Never That Easy
by Charmed Lassie
Summary: (Sequel to 'Twisted Whitelighters')Everything's rosy in the Halliwell household, no major demonic threats. Everything's good...right? COMPLETE!
1. Are fairy tales meant to be violent?

A/N: This is for everyone who rad and reviewed 'Twisted Whitelighters', hopefully this'll be to your liking. Just to tell you where we're at, Paige has got Marie back and is still dating Richard, Pheebs is still with Jason and Andy is the girls' second whitelighter. Piper is pregnant with Chris and Leo already knows. Okay, let's go!

"Snow White'?' Richard asked dubiously as he took the tape.

'She likes it,' Paige shrugged. 'And Wyatt will.'

'Where're you going again?'

'Demon-summoning tribe, Africa. Don't worry, we'll be back in time for supper.'

'Alright.'

She waved a little at Marie as she orbed out of Richard's mansion, appearing back at the manor to find Piper, Phoebe and Andy waiting.

'Hey, where'd Chris go?'

'To tell the Elders,' Piper answered. 'Were the kids alright?'

'Marie thinks she's in charge, so yeah!'

'Okay,' Andy took control. 'Let's go.'

* * *

Trees. A lot of trees.

Paige crept along slowly, Piper in front of her and Phoebe tagging along behind her with Andy. It was dark but Paige supposed it was always like that in the jungle, peeking up all she could see were leaves.

'Ahh!'

Piper rounded on her sister. 'Phoebe, shh! Kinda takes away the element of surprise don't ya think?'

'Something slid over my foot!' Phoebe hissed.

'Lot of snakes round this part of the country,' Andy whispered.

Paige slapped his arm. 'Not helping.'

'Can we get moving here?' Piper asked.

They proceeded in silence until Piper held out her arm, Paige leaned forward and saw past her sister into a clearing. It looked like a few high-up tribal leaders just gathered around a fire muttering in some lost language.

'You take that one,' Andy instructed pointing towards the biggest one. 'Phoebe, Piper, the other ones.'

'Oh, goodie, I get the master!' Paige quipped.

'Okay, go!'

The quartet shot forward, Paige dimly aware of Phoebe pouncing and another tribe leader exploding but concentrating on the big ugly man of her very own. One hefty kick and the orbing of a nicely placed pole soon took care of him though and she turned her attentions to helping Phoebe finish off her leader.

'Okay!' Piper said. 'Let's go home.'

'Andy?' Paige asked the spaced-out whitelighter. 'What's up?'

'I'm not sure.'

'Come on, Andy,' Piper complained. 'I've got a pie in the oven.'

'That's not all you've got in the oven,' Paige joked then balked at the glare. 'Okay, it was a bad joke.'

'Something feels wrong,' he said taking a look round. 'Did we get them all?'

'I think so,' Phoebe glanced around. 'And we got them before the ritual, right?'

'Yeah,' he frowned. 'I suppose.'

* * *

'I still think it's a bit violent,' Richard shrugged as Paige collected the various things Wyatt and Marie had orbed around the room.

'Okay, number one, it's a fairy tale,' Paige argued. 'And, number two, she's a whitelighter-witch, so is Wyatt for that matter, it's good they get used to seeing evil lose.'

He looked unconvinced. 'Okay.'

'How long's Wyatt been asleep?' she asked glancing at the sofa.

'He nodded off about the poison apple, Marie was nearly shouting at him to wake up.'

'Oh, she loves that part,' Paige explained quietly. 'I told her all about the time when it happened to me.'

'You orbing Wyatt home?'

'Yep. Tell Marie I'll be up to tuck her in when I get back.'

'How long till Leo finishes the basement renovation?' Richard questioned, quickly adding; 'Don't think I want rid of you but I know how important it is for you to be with your family.'

'He thinks tomorrow, as long as no demon crashes in.'

'Okay,' Richard kissed her lightly. 'Don't be long.'


	2. Silent 'm'

A/N: There's something I need to explain. I think, I might be wrong, that my writing's evolved since the first installment in this series and that's why this might seem a little different to that one and a bit more slow-burning. Anyways, thanks for returning.

It was amazing, Paige reflected as she packed her bags the next day, how much she and Marie had spread out during the few months they'd been living in the mansion.

Part of her wished they didn't have to go but she knew how much the family needed each other, with Piper pregnant and Leo not being around a lot, well, it meant they had to be closer than ever. It had been good of Leo to sort out the new sleeping arrangements, from what Andy and Chris had said, the other Elders hadn't been too happy about his renewed interest in his family.

'Paige, ready yet?'

As she turned she smiled. 'Andy, what're you doing here?'

'Piper sent me to help you orb all this back to the manor,' he explained looking at all the boxes. 'Good thing too. I've never understood how women can accumulate so much so quickly.'

'Guys are as bad, you know,' she objected. 'I had a nephew who collected five hundred baseball cards in the space of a week.'

'That must have cost him.'

'I didn't say he paid for them.'

* * *

'Hey, it actually looks nice!'

Leo looked a little offended at this. 'I have been posing as a handyman for fifty years, Paige.'

'Oh, I meant with it being, you know, the basement,' she dismissed. 'But it's great.'

It was. He'd gutted the whole place, converted it into two bedrooms, Wyatt's on the left, Marie's on the right. Best of all, he'd hollowed out a metre of earth from all around the house, put windows in and created a lot of light in the small space.

'What do you think, Marie?' Leo asked the girl. 'Pink your colour?'

'Thanks, Leo, she replied hugging him.

'You're welcome,' he smiled. 'Why don't you go get Aunt Piper and Wyatt?'

As she ran off up the stairs Paige turned to Leo. 'You've made her so happy.'

'My pleasure.'

Suddenly she remembered the battle of the previous day. 'Leo, those tribal leaders yesterday, did we vanquish them?'

'The Mwoaki tribe?'

'You can pronounce it?' she asked going a little off subject.

'Yeah, it's a silent 'm'.'

'Um... okay! Did we get them?'

'I think so, no demonic activity's been reported in the area. Why?'

'Just something Andy said.'

'Andy?'

'Yeah, I think he felt like the threat wasn't over.'

'Maybe he was imagining it.'

'Leo, come one! You know as well as I do that when one of us gets a feeling, we're usually right.'

'But Andy isn't a witch, Paige.'

'So his opinion doesn't count?'

'In this case, I think he's wrong.'

* * *

It seemed even darker the second time around. Maybe it was because she was alone this time, all the shadows were double the length, Paige had to keep reminding herself she could be home in seconds if she needed to.

After standing in the clearing for a few moments she could see what Andy meant. Something wasn't right. Definite demonic power hung in the air, which struck her as strange seeing as Leo had said no activity had been detected.

Strange.

* * *

'You shouldn't have done that, Paige,' Andy said. 'If I'm right about the evil around there, you were putting yourself in danger.'

'Stop with the over protective whitelighter gig already! The point is that you are right. I think maybe we got the tribe after they'd summoned the demon.'

'Leo doesn't think so,' he said with a hint of bitterness.

'Leo's not your biggest fan, Andy.'

'He hasn't a reason to hate me.'

'Apart from you trying to vanquish me and my daughter?'

'You know why that happened.'

'And Leo does too,' she answered evenly. 'It's just his protective streak.'

He smiled at her a little. 'I've got one of those too. Comes out when my favourite charge puts herself in the firing line.'

'I'm your favourite charge?'

'Sure, you're the only one who's forgiven me for trying to kill them.'

Paige let out a giggle. 'We can't talk without that coming up can we?'

'I feel guilty, that's all,' he replied.

'Nothing really happened.'

'I guess not,' Andy smiled ruefully.

'Okay,' she cleared her throat. 'I think we need to talk to Phoebe and Piper.'

'Sure.'


	3. Failing to fool

A/N: I promise faithfully that the plot is already going.

'I just don't think we need to go looking for trouble.'

'Phoebe,' Paige was trying to keep patient. 'Why don't we get it before it gets us?'

'There's nothing to say there is any trouble,' Piper said level-headedly. 'Feeling demonic activity there could just be the residue they left behind.'

'It wasn't residue,' Andy put in. 'I know what that feels like.'

'So do I,' Paige added.

'We're not doubting that, sweetie,' Phoebe said. 'But, personally, I've got enough on at the moment without going after demons that might not even exist.'

Paige glanced at Andy, feeling his eyes boring deep into hers, after a few seconds it became too intense and she looked away. 'I promised Marie I'd say goodnight.'

'Paige, wait,' Piper tried but she'd already walked into the kitchen, pressing angrily on, trying to breathe evenly before she kissed her daughter goodnight. It wasn't good for Marie to see her in such a state.

Inwardly she was seething though. Why did it always seem her opinion counted for nothing? All she wanted was a bit of support, just to know she was actually a good witch with a good sense of instinct.

She popped her head around the door of Wyatt's new room, finding him asleep peacefully, then crossed the hall and knocked on Marie's door.

'Come in.'

She sounded like such an adult, Paige grinned to herself as she opened the door. Marie was sat in bed, lamp on, sitting patiently. 'Sorry for keeping you waiting.'

'I like this room.'

'I'm glad, you'll be in it for a while.'

'I miss Richard though.'

'I do too, honey,' Paige sniffed thinking of how Richard would be standing by her right now, whether she was making sense or not.

'What's wrong?' Marie asked.

'Nothing, I'm fine.'

'I'm not stupid.'

Paige let herself smile. 'I never said you were.'

'Tell me what's wrong.'

'Whining will get you nowhere,' Paige kissed her forehead.

'I'm not whining.'

'Of course you're not. Now, go to sleep.'

'Okay.'

Switching out the lamp, Paige watched as her daughter snuggled up under her pink duvet and closed her eyes. 'Night, sweetie.'

'Night.'

It was with a heavier heart that she walked back up the stairs. If she was having trouble fooling a five year old then she wasn't going to do a good job in the room full of adults waiting for her upstairs.

So she was relieved to find the living room empty, at least empty until she'd sat down and Andy wandered in.

'Are you okay?'

She inwardly smiled at his protective tone. 'I feel... a little caged in by all this.'

'I can understand where they're coming from. I'm hardly an expert on demonic residue, it could've just been that.'

'Don't do that,' she said.

'Do what?'

'Put yourself down like that when you know you're right. You're just trying to hold the Power of Three together.'

'I'm your whitelighter, Paige. I can't knowingly put you in danger.'

'You're telling me to forget it then?' she questioned.

Sighing, he sat down. 'Look it up in the book, ask Chris what he knows, just don't do anything on your own.'

'Okay, okay,' she agreed, albeit grudgingly. 'I suppose if we show Piper some evidence she'll have to believe me.'

'They do believe you, Paige,' Andy objected. 'But they've got their own lives. Phoebe's trying to control her life with Jason, keeping the truth from him, that's gotta be difficult for her.'

'Yeah, I know.'

'And Piper,' he went on. 'She's pregnant, trying to deal with Wyatt and the Elders digging their heels in.'

'What do you mean?' Paige asked curiously.

'It's a bit of a rumour up there,' he explained.

'Whitelighters deal in rumours?'

'Doesn't everyone about their bosses?' Andy countered.

'I guess,' she smiled. 'So, what's the rumour?'

'The Elders are trying to force Leo to leave Piper... again.'

'Why this time?'

To do with divided loyalties. I think it's because they like to set you three challenges, obstacles, they can't do that if Leo's looking out for you all the time. That's my view anyway.'

'Sounds right,' she nodded. 'Can't see why Leo would wanna be an Elder when he knows what they're like.'

'No offence to Leo, but I think he's obsessed with being the good guy. He's trying to please everyone.'

'Aren't all whitelighters like that?'

'I think it depends on the whitelighter in question,' he said thoughtfully. 'Leo was a doctor, very anti-violence, maybe he brought that into his whitelighter self.'

'And you were a cop so maybe you're more open-minded and see more?' she finished.

'Yeah, exactly.'

'Leo's just trying to do the best by his family.'

'Being an Elder isn't doing that,' Andy warned.


	4. Dream a little dream

A/N: Before I write this I just want to assure everyone that I'm no fan of the Andy/ Paige pairing. Okay, enjoy.

'Mom, wake up!'

'Huh?' she squinted against the blinding morning light blending through the curtains. 'Marie... what is it?'

'I had another dream.'

That woke her up alright. 'Another prophetic dream?'

'It was like one of Aunt Phoebe's visions,' Marie answered slipping under the covers next to her mother. 'It was scary.'

'Tell me what you saw.'

'Loads of things,' Marie shivered. 'There was an evil thing taking over the family, it ended with...'

'With what, honey?' Paige probed.

'You threw a potion at me, then it went black.'

She'd vanquished her daughter?! 'Um... are you sure it wasn't just a nightmare?'

'It was real.'

'Okay, you can sleep here for tonight, okay?' She checked her clock. 'Even though there isn't much of it left.'

* * *

She'd decided to catch Piper on her own, the sensible Halliwell would probably be more receptive to her problem considering she was a mother herself. Lucky for Paige that Piper was having a sudden urge to cook in the kitchen.

'Piper, hey,' Paige went to sit on a stool.

'Alright, what's wrong?'

'What makes you..?' Paige trailed off then shrugged. 'Oh, what the hell. Marie had a prophetic dream last night.'

Piper looked up with interest. 'Really?'

'Yeah, it ended with us vanquishing her.'

'Sure it wasn't just a nightmare? Kids have them, you know.'

'Don't ask how I know, Piper, but I totally trust her. I know she's only a kid but...'

'You get the feeling she's more like an adult?'

'Yeah.'

'I see it too,' Piper confirmed. 'What else happened in the dream?'

'I'm not really sure, she said evil was taking over the family and that we threw a potion at her then it all went dark.'

'Her last dream took place, what, three years before you actually went to get her?'

'Close to that, yeah.'

'Then we've got no way of knowing if this evil's gonna appear next week or next year.'

'Isn't it better to be prepared?'

'Guess you're right,' Piper conceded. 'But you can call Phoebe.'

'Why me?'

'Because she's supposed to be having lunch with Jason.'

* * *

A nice family committee meeting.

Piper seemed to be in a neutral mood, which Paige considered a good thing, having one sister open-minded definitely helped her chances. Whereas Phoebe's face was like thunder. Andy was sat closest to Paige, lending her the mental support she needed, while Leo was sat next to Phoebe, it gave the sense that he wasn't really in the mood for being there. Chris on the other hand had his arms crossed, he looked like he was itching to get away, knowing him he'd probably got some crazy vanquishing scheme going and was eager to get back to it.

'Any chance of doing this quickly?' Phoebe asked when no one else broke the silence.

Paige supposed that was down to her. 'Okay, Marie had a dream last night, a vision.'

Leo sat up straighter. 'She's sure it was one?'

'She's positive, Leo,' Paige said. 'And apparently it ended when we threw a potion at her.'

'A vanquishing potion?' Phoebe questioned nervously.

'It seems like one,' she admitted.

'Does she remember anything else?' Chris joined in. 'Distinctive hair styles, something that's tell us when it happened.'

'Yeah, actually,' Paige recalled the facts she'd extracted from her daughter before school. 'She remembered that we looked exactly the same, I think it has to be fairly soon.'

'We can't jump to conclusions, Paige,' Leo reasoned. 'I'm not trying to say Marie's lying but she's young, easily manipulated.'

'That's as good as accusing her of lying,' Paige objected heatedly.

'Alright, alright,' Piper butted in. 'Marie's telling us the truth. Question is now, what do we do about it?'

'I think- and Paige agrees- it might have something to do with the tribe from the other day,' Andy put in helpfully.

'We've been over this already,' Phoebe sighed. 'We said the spell, the guys went kaput, that's it, finito.'

'Except I don't think we did vanquish them,' Paige said. 'Or maybe they summoned the demon first.'

'Piper?' Leo pushed the decision over to ex-wife.

'I think we should follow up,' she shrugged. 'Leo, go do whatever you do up there, Chris, find out what you can from the Underworld.'

'What about me?' Andy asked, obviously eager to help.

'Go with Paige, see if you can sense anything in the jungle. Phoebe,' her sister looked up expectantly. 'Go to lunch.'

'Really?'

'We'll call you if we need you,' Piper insisted. 'And I'm gonna go check the book.'


	5. Vanquish the thing

A/N: Hey, I'm back! With another mad helping of this. Thanks to my reviewers as usual.

'Do you feel it?' Andy asked pacing around the clearing.

'You know, they could have cast a spell to cloak themselves,' Paige thought aloud. 'We could reverse that if we wanted.'

'You could but don't,' he warned. 'There's only two of us here, Paige.'

Suddenly she felt dizzy, so much that she couldn't see Andy clearly. 'Whoa...'

'What?' he asked, concern etched on his brow.

As soon as it had come it'd gone again. 'Nothing. Dizzy spell.'

'We're going home.'

'But we should do a bit more digging.'

'Paige,' he said warningly. 'We need to help Piper.'

'Okay, okay.'

* * *

The day had been a complete washout... apart from Phoebe who'd had a thoroughly great time at lunch with Jason.

According to Leo, the Elders were still maintaining the tribe leaders hadn't managed to summon the demon and were dismissive of Marie's dream, they didn't trust a five year old. Then again, they'd never exactly trusted the Charmed Ones either had they?

The only thing Piper found in the book related to the demon, a Mackenbear demon, amongst it's many energy throwing powers it had the ability to cloak itself. So that was one point to Paige and Andy.

And so they were assembled yet again, this time with Wyatt bouncing on his father's knee and Marie sitting by Phoebe.

'Didn't you know these bear demons could cloak themselves?' Piper directed the question at Leo.

'They're not very big on telling me things right now,' Leo complained, obviously without thinking as the rest of the group stared at him. 'I mean, it's busy.'

Piper looked him over. 'Well, now we have a bigger problem.'

'Like what?' Phoebe asked.

'There's no known vanquish for this... thing,' she said, having tried and failed to say the name. 'The only we've got is to cage it somehow.'

'And how do we do that?' Paige queried.

'I think we could be able to bless an unbreakable cage, like the Seer did,' Piper replied. 'And dump him in some sealed cavern.'

'Can we do that?' Paige asked. 'Sounds complicated.'

'No, you can do it,' Chris assured them.

'Do you know something?' Piper questioned him.

'No,' he said unconvincingly.

'You know he can't say,' Leo put in calmly. 'But it's a good plan.'

'Right, then,' Piper stood just as the phone rang. Since she was closest she answered it; 'Hello?... Richard, hi... I'll put her on.'

Paige grimaced as her sister passed her the phone. 'Honey, now's not a good time.'

'I thought you were coming round tonight,' he sounded a little annoyed. 'Did you forget?'

'No, I didn't... forget, like I said, we've got a little emergency here.'

'It's about the Mackenbear demon, Paige,' he added patiently.

'Oh, what about it?'

'You didn't stop it.'

'And how would you know about that?' she asked suspiciously.

'I did a locating evil spell,' he answered in a voice that said he knew exactly what her reaction would be.

'You did a spell?!' Paige shouted, noticing everyone her end jump and exchange looks. 'Why would you do that?'

'To help, Paige, why else?'

'Look, we can't talk about this now,' she sighed heavily. 'I better go.'

'No, wait!'

'What?!'

'I know how you can stop it, or how I can stop it.'

'No, Richard, you're not doing anything,' she hissed.

'Well, when whatever you're doing doesn't work, get back to me.'

Hearing him hang up angered her more, she'd so wanted to slam the phone down in a rage. As she put it down calmly though, she realised doing that would have just alerted the family to the fact that she was less than happy.

Then again, judging by their faces, they'd already got that. Especially Andy for some reason.

'Problems?' he asked with concern.

'Good news? If we fail, Richard says he'll kill him.'

Phoebe exchanged a glance with Piper. 'Oh, honey...'

'No,' Paige resolved. 'We have to sort out this demon out and I'll sort Richard out later.'

* * *

'Okay,' Paige whispered. 'Do you hear that?'

'Voices,' Piper answered softly. 'Or at least one voice.'

'Say the spell,' Leo advised.

'Uncloak this evil, let me see

What it's desperate to keep from me.'

A strong gust of wind blew through the clearing causing uproar in the trees above then it blew back the other way revealing one huge grey demon, skin bubbling and bursting every few seconds, chanting away in an unknown language. Andy, the closest person to it, was half it's size, less than a third of it's weight, in other words it was very big and very ugly.

'Whoa...' Phoebe looked high up at it.

The demon turned slowly, catching sight of the quartet and slamming a pudgy arm across, sending Andy flying.

'Paige, the crystals!'

After a glance at Andy's lifeless body she complied with Leo's order, orbing the crystals into a circle around the demon. It struggled against the beams of the light for a moment, filling the air with an almighty screech. Then it settled for a moment.

Giving Paige the opportunity to run over to Andy. It wasn't looking good.


	6. Unexpected revelations

A/N: One update for ya.

'Are you okay?' Paige asked a pale Andy who was still lying on the ground staring up into the never-ending leaves.

'I guess, bruised ego more than anything,' he smiled one of those trademark smiles. He slowly sat up, looking over the Mackenbear still caged and growling. 'Ugly thing isn't he?'

It growled a little louder.

'It's probably best not to say that,' Leo said hurriedly.

'He has got a point,' Phoebe said.

'Grr...'

'Maybe we should orb it to the cave. Leo?' Piper took control of the situation.

'If you think so,' he replied raising his arms. 'Follow me.'

* * *

'Could Chris have picked a grimier spot?' Phoebe complained as she wiped something off her shoe. 'I think that was bird poo.'

'Impossible,' Leo said. 'The only creatures that've been in here for the last three hundred years are mountain trolls.'

Phoebe glanced down at her feet and grimaced. 'Thanks for that, Leo.'

'Can we get on with this please?' Piper broke in.

'No mountain trolls around here now?' Phoebe asked nervously. 'Cos I heard they're big and cannibalistic.'

'No, you're safe.'

Paige surveyed the cavern, just big enough for the magical cage holding the demon, only one entrance which was good.

'So you three say the spell,' Andy instructed. 'Make sure you're well out of it though.'

'Wait!'

They all stared up at the demon, Paige feeling she was hearing something, after all, the big ugly demon couldn't be speaking English, right? She felt stupid saying it but no one else seemed willing. 'Did you say something?'

'This business means nothing. It has already started, infiltration.'

Leo stepped towards it. 'What do you mean?'

'You'll see.'

'Tell us what you mean,' Andy demanded.

It sniggered. 'You'll see.'

It seemed sort of an anti-climax, Paige thought as she watched Marie sleep. There could still be something out there threatening her, not that anyone seemed to care. As far as her sisters were concerned the demon was just lying in an effort to save his bubbly backside. Except why did Paige get that damn feeling?

With a sigh she made her way up the two flights of stairs to her bedroom, slightly shocked to find Andy patiently sitting on her bed, waiting. 'Andy..?'

'I needed to talk to you,' he said hesitantly.

'The bedroom? Not exactly the best place.'

'You think the demon was telling you the truth don't you?'

She glanced at him. 'I thought you didn't believe him.'

'I didn't but you do.'

'How could you..?'

'Paige, I'm getting good at reading you.'

His tone made her a little uncomfortable. 'Well, good friends can do that.'

'I don't just want to be a friend to you, Paige.'

'Andy, stop joking!'

He stood up, moving towards her. 'I'm not joking.'

As he advanced she orbed out ending up behind him. 'Maybe you're under a spell or something.'

'It isn't impossible that I could be in love with you.'

'Yeah, it is!'

'Paige...'

'No, listen to me,' she insisted. 'Help me find the truth about this demon then we'll talk.'

The look on his face displayed too much hope for her liking. 'I'll go see what I can find out.'

* * *

'I missed you,' Richard tightened his grip on her waist.

'Sorry about earlier,' she apologised. 'It's just it was something we needed to work out.'

'I shouldn't have been so unreasonable,' he said. 'So, you got it?'

'It's safely caged up.'

'And the inner prophet?'

'Yada-yada, what?'

'The prophet?' he repeated. 'Tormented inner soul of the Mackenbear demon, the worst part of it.'

'No, we didn't.'


	7. Always a complication or two

A/N: Hope this is making sense, I think I'm rushing a little, eager for reviews and all, but I reckon it has a decent plot. My opinion anyway.

'You have to be kidding me!' Phoebe burst out breaking the silence that descended on the group since Paige's little announcement.

'Hang on,' Piper moved over the book flipping the pages. 'It doesn't say anything here.'

Chris moved next to her and turned the page. 'Here. Inner soul of the Mackenbear demon.'

All eyes turned to Piper. 'Oops.'

'What does it say?' Paige asked anxiously.

'The soul can survive separately to the demon itself, even moving out of the body, passing through walls or barriers that may entrap the demon. It has the ability to possess it's victim to the point of destruction.'

'That means Marie's dream could still happen,' Paige realised.

'Yep,' Chris confirmed quietly.

Piper slapped his arm. 'You knew about this?!'

'Future consequences, you know?'

'You'll be lucky to have a future if you don't start telling us things like that.'

'Guys, guys!' Phoebe interrupted the growing argument. 'Inner soul thingy.'

'Okay, okay,' Piper glanced down at the book. 'Apparently it prefers possession of smaller beings such as children.'

Children?! 'You don't think..?'

'Marie,' Piper finished and dashed out of the room, Paige hot on her heels. It seemed to take Chris and Phoebe a minute to catch on but then Paige heard their feet pounding behind her.

Down the attic steps, down the landing steps, down the basement steps.

'Marie!' Paige skidded to a halt as she reached the door, half afraid to go in.

It was Chris who made the move in, swinging open the door to let them see in. Marie was drawing on her bed, at first it seemed she hadn't heard the commotion, the hand was still moving across the page, back and forth, as if in some kind of trance.

Paige made to move forward but Chris held her back, stepping forward himself. Still Marie didn't move.

He managed to get all the way up to her without her hearing him, gingerly he peeked over her shoulder, drawing back quickly.

* * *

'Chris, are you sure?'

'Why do you always question me?'

'I don't!' Leo defended.

'Yeah, you do!'

'Hey!' Piper shouted. 'We do actually have a problem here.'

'Alright,' Leo conceded. 'Where's Andy?'

'He isn't answering my call,' Paige shrugged. 'But we've got better things to think about.'

'So the drawing was definitely of the demon?'

'How many more times?!'

'Chris, pipe down.'

'Sorry, mom.'

'Guys! Marie!' Paige burst out angrily.

They all looked suitably abashed, Piper especially. 'Honey, I don't know what to do.'

'I never thought I'd hear you say that.'

'Wait, you sound like you're giving up,' Leo said.

'No way!'

'Right, good. Now orb over to Richard's, find out everything he knows. He's obviously got more on this thing than we have.'

'What about me?' Chris asked.

'Find Andy, we'll need him.'

* * *

'This should do it,' Richard passed her an orange potion. 'I started work as soon as you left.'

'God, thank you,' Paige smiled in relief. 'What does it do?'

'Banish the spirit... if it's there.'

'What do you mean, 'if it's there'?'

'That's the problem, Paige,' he explained hesitantly. 'You have to be sure of the possession before you throw it, otherwise it'll kill them.'

'Which evil rat thought of that rule?'

'They're not exactly known for their sense of fairness.'

'I can't vanquish my daughter!'

'Hey,' Richard pulled her into a tight embrace. 'That isn't gonna happen. It's a demonic possession.'

'But what if it isn't? This is what Marie saw, me throwing a potion at her and then it went black! She died.'

'Wait, that could mean anything.'

'Oh, like what?!'

'It's possible the prophet influenced the dream, they have the power to do that.'

'I can't even hold her,' Paige pulled herself shakily away. 'She's in this trance, and I'm the one that did all this to her.'

'She's lucky to have you.'

Paige suppressed a snort. 'You know, I thought I couldn't do any worse than the first time around, leaving her and all, but I think I really outdid myself with this. I mean, what am I really giving her?'

'Love,' he reasoned. 'Her heritage.'

'You had a heritage, look where it got you.'

'Paige, stop looking at all the negatives. You've given Marie a home, a family, there are just some things that are worth it.'

'Like vanquishing your daughter for the greater good?'

'No,' he shook his head. 'That's not one of them.'


	8. Crazy little lethal weapon

A/N: Very sorry about the wait, problems and all. I'll be wrapping this up next chap but I did have a nice idea for another piece, don't hold me to my word though.

'Where's Marie?' Paige questioned the moment she orbed into the kitchen.

'Downstairs,' Piper assured her. 'Phoebe's there.'

Paige pulled the little bottle out of her pocket. 'I got a potion.'

'That's great! Now I don't have to worry about getting it wrong.'

'Maybe you do.'

'Why?' Piper frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'We've got a problem.'

'What kinda problem?'

'If Marie isn't possessed this potion will vanquish her.'

'Oh...' Piper looked defeated. 'Well, we can't use it.'

'No, listen, Piper, we have to.'

'It's way too dangerous.'

'You know what'll happen if we don't and it is the demon. You read it.'

'There has to be another way.'

'I wish there was,' Paige answered trying to hold back the tears forming behind her eyelids. 'I just...'

As she found herself crying she fell into her sister's arms, feeling glad she was finally letting it all out but thinking how stupid she must look. 'Paige, shh.'

'Things are just going wrong!'

Suddenly she felt an orb behind her. Andy, it had to be. 'Paige...'

Sniffing she turned around. 'What are you doing here?'

'I felt your tears.'

'Did Chris tell you what's going on?'

'Yeah, he did. I'm sorry.'

'Doesn't mean anything though does it?' Paige asked with a hint of her old sarcasm. 'Whatever I do there's a chance I'll lose her.'

'You think we'll let that happen?'

'We won't have a choice.'

'Come here,' he pulled her forward into his arms, she barely registered the movement because of the renewed tears slipping down her cheeks.

* * *

'Do you think she can hear me?' Paige whispered as she watched her daughter add the finishing touches to her fourth consecutive drawing of the Mackenbear demon.

'I'm sure of it,' Phoebe smiled briefly. 'See those eyes? That's the exact look she was giving me the other day when I needed to borrow a pencil. She's in there, Paige, I know it.'

'And we'll get all of her back, right?'

'Right.'

Piper arrived stealthily behind them. 'Are we ready for this?'

'Ready as we'll ever be,' Paige replied gripping both her sisters tightly. 'Where's Wyatt?'

'Andy's watching him.'

'Why, where's Leo?'

'No idea, he said something about covering our backs then he orbed out somewhere.'

Something flickered in the back of Paige's head to do with the Elders but she quickly dismissed it as something to worry about later. 'Right, let's do it.'

'You sure, sweetie?' Phoebe asked.

'No. Yes.'

Piper nodded, passing her the bottle. She took it with shaking hands, looking at her daughter who still looked through her.

'Wait,' Andy's footsteps pounded on the stairs.

'Where's Wyatt?!'

'Piper, relax! Leo orbed in.'

Paige wasn't in the mood for all this Andy activity. How was she supposed to deal with his little declaration of love when her daughter was in the state she was? She knew which was the more important. 'Andy, what do you want?'

'To be here.'

She felt the raised eyebrows of both her sisters but didn't catch their eyes, definitelynot what she needed. 'Fine.'

'Throw the potion,' Piper instructed.

As she complied her heart sank, Marie was her daughter. Her daughter. And she was throwing a lethal liquid at her, one that could kill her. Huh, some mother! But it would work... wouldn't it?

Marie slipped to the floor as the bottle broke at her feet.


	9. When a woman loves a man

A/N: Bit of a disappointment for me this was, probably for you devoted readers too. Anyway check my bio page for my next 'big idea'. It's a sister thing.

'Mom?'

'Oh...' Paige rushed over lifting her daughter onto the bed. 'I'm so sorry.'

Marie was stiff. 'You did it.'

Paige pulled away at something of a loss. 'I got the demon out of you, honey, I had to.'

'He was talking to me.'

'What was he saying?'

'That you'd have to kill me to kill him.'

'Yeah, but we didn't.'

'You tried.'

Paige felt a set of arms pull her up and heard Phoebe's voice, 'Go upstairs, let me try.'

'But...'

'Come on,' Piper took her arm and led her up the stairs into the kitchen, she could feel Andy's presence behind her.

'I never thought she'd hate me for saving her.'

'She's been manipulated, Paige,' Piper soothed. 'If anyone can talk her round, Phoebe can.'

'You think?'

Piper looked to Andy who took the hint. 'Listen, demons take their chances, create destruction whenever they can. As soon as Marie has a chance to think she'll realise that.'

'Andy, she's five!'

'She's the smartest kid I've ever met,' he smiled. 'She'll come through this.'

'I need to see Richard,' she thought aloud.

* * *

'At least it didn't kill her.'

Paige smiled through a fresh haze of tears. 'That's a plus, I guess.'

'It's all work out, Andy was right.'

God, she so didn't want to hear that name right now. 'I'd rather hear it from you than him.'

'Something happen between you two?'

'Oh, it's nothing. I guess I'm just stressed, needed to see you.'

Richard grinned a little. 'It's kinda quiet around here now.'

'I miss it.'

Before he could reply Andy had orbed in with Marie next to him. 'Someone has something to say.'

'Aunt Phoebe told me all about it.'

'She did?' Paige said hopefully.

'And you weren't trying to kill me?'

'No.'

'Really?'

'Oh, sweetie,' Paige swept her daughter up in her arms. 'I knew everything would be fine.'

'You did?'

'Well, no,' she admitted. 'But I didn't want to do it.'

'I love you.'

Paige felt more tears burn her eyes as she put her down. 'I love you too, honey.'

'How about getting you a drink?' Richard helpfully interrupted. 'All that demon possession can be hard on your hydration glands.'

Marie giggled and took his hand, Paige watching as they disappeared round the corner feeling relief that things were normal again. The she noticed Andy and said, 'I don't love you.'

'You don't even have to think about it?'

'Nope.'

'You sure?'

'Andy, I know how I feel. And I like you, you're my whitelighter and I suppose my friend.'

'I can feel a 'but' coming.'

'It's Prue.'

'Prue?!'

'Come on, I could never get involved with you even if I wasn't with Richard.'

'She gave us her blessing, remember?'

'It'd still feel like some kind of betrayal,' Paige countered. 'I haven't got much of a link with Prue, I want to believe she knows me and, you know, maybe she likes me, I can't think that if I'm sleeping with the love of her life.'

'You're allowed to fall in love.'

'And I did. With Richard. I can see myself with him forever, and I'm not being over dramatic here. There's nothing you or anyone else could say to change my mind.'

'So what now?'

'Hey, Marie's fine, there's no demon around. We're all fine. And we're the same as we always were.'

'Friends?'

'Best friends.'

'You got a deal.'


End file.
